Rowdy's take on tech suits

At least Rowdy didn't have loose body part tucking, skin cancer prevention, and knee support in his reasons. Good for him. Rowdy didn't really address whether USMS should break from FINA on tech suits. It would be interesting to hear his thoughts on that matter. Tim

This is interesting because you would have thought Rowdy was against the suits based on his comments from Rome. He kept saying things like "Phelps got beat by the suit."

Does B70 sponsor him? I can't read the posting, can somebody copy it here?

Does B70 sponsor him? Yes This is interesting because you would have thought Rowdy was against the suits based on his comments from Rome. He kept saying things like "Phelps got beat by the suit." I agree, though maybe he was going out of his way to try to not be seen as being biased by his connection with B70. I can't read the posting, can somebody copy it here? The suit controversy continues... Aug 27 Written by: Rowdy Gaines 8/27/2009 The new suit technology and the controversy behind it does not seem to want to go away. Now there is quite a bit of attention in the Masters World. The Washington Post recently had an article on the suit through the eyes of Masters Swimming: www.washingtonpost.com/.../AR2009082503048.html My thought has always been that the suit has been good for the sport. If you had asked me two years ago and I knew then what I know now, I would have agreed that the suit would NOT be good for the sport. But the suit arrived and it changed our sport more dramatically than anything in history. We can’t just pretend it didn’t happen. There are several reasons why I think the suit should stay on all levels, but certainly now in Masters. The first 8 reasons are for all of swimming and the last 5 are for Masters specifically. This is just one man’s opinion, but I did a recent informal survey on Twitter and Facebook asking if the suit should stay or go away in Masters. I received about 100 votes, and the most responses were for it to stay. 55% wanted the suit to stay, 30% wanted it to go away and about 15% didn’t care either way. General swimming reasons… Wait about 10 to 15 years when they are still going 21 plus in the 50 and women are going 4:02 in the 400….BORING…the casual fan wants to see a 10-8 game in baseball and they want to see records broken in swimming. Wait until next year when that little 14-year-old girl that went a minute at juniors this summer can’t break 1:02, and her body changes and she decides to quit and go out for water polo, or worse…soccer. Don’t tell me it was more of an advantage for one body type over another. The suit companies would have fixed that problem eventually. What other sport is actually going in reverse when it comes to technology? Do they still play with a wooden racquet in tennis? What about golf clubs and race cars? Does it really take away from the legend of swimmers like Evans, Spitz and even Popov? Of course not…they will always be legends. Wait until the Berens and the Vollmers of the world can’t make ends meet because the suit companies had to cut back because they sell $50 suits vs. $500 suits…only the Phelpses and Coughlins will survive financially. I’ve talked to the presidents of most swimsuit companies and they all say the same thing. It will hurt them financially and they will have to pass it along to the sport. And don’t tell me that it’s not fair for that 12-year-old because he/she can’t afford it. Life’s not fair, so get over it. Or better yet, ban it for ALL 12 and unders…it’s not rocket science. The only way this sport will ever grow is more exposure. I was on the Today Show twice during Worlds talking about the SUITS!! N even a mention of Phelps, who btw will be gone in three years, so kiss that gravy train good bye… And for Masters specifically… At our age, we need all the help we can get! At the very least, let’s keep it around through 2010. A lot of people HAVE spent a lot of money and it would be nice to have some time to “wear them out.” I love this one from John Beatty…“No one is forcing a master’s swimmer to wear the suit. It’s not like we are swimming to make a national team. We swim for our own reasons. Why should we care what someone else is wearing if we are supposedly swimming for our individual selves?” The prices of the suits will go down, way down, now that the manufacturers have a glut of these that they are trying to get rid of. It’s Masters! At the end of the day, it just doesn’t matter (or at least it shouldn’t) and we can all go out afterwards for a beer and a laugh. It makes me sick to my stomach to hear whispers that some Masters swimmers are taking performance enhancing drugs and to even think about comparing the suits to PEDs is ludicrous.

Some people swim to win,some to go faster,some for fitness,etc.I don't say any of those reasons are better than the other,but winning is important to me.I do want to compare myself to the best in my age group.I was a little disappointed at LCM Nats when I got there and found that Hubie Kerns had broken his leg and wouldn't be there.After his performance at Fresno I was really looking forward to racing him.Pretty much my rivals are among my best friends in swimming.I know they make me faster and I hope I make them faster. Jon Blank posted on another thread that David Guthrie had recruited him to go to Indy so they could race.That is an important part of Masters for some people,if it is not for you that doesn't make it irrelevant.Every time I feel like blowing of a set in work out or skipping a round in the weight room I think 2 words"Bob Strand".

Some people swim to win,some to go faster,some for fitness,etc.I don't say any of those reasons are better than the other,but winning is important to me.I do want to compare myself to the best in my age group.I was a little disappointed at LCM Nats when I got there and found that Hubie Kerns had broken his leg and wouldn't be there.After his performance at Fresno I was really looking forward to racing him.Pretty much my rivals are among my best friends in swimming.I know they make me faster and I hope I make them faster. Jon Blank posted on another thread that David Guthrie had recruited him to go to Indy so they could race.That is an important part of Masters for some people,if it is not for you that doesn't make it irrelevant.Every time I feel like blowing of a set in work out or skipping a round in the weight room I think 2 words"Bob Strand". Alan, A great rivalry with Andy McPherson in the mid-90's kept me motivated and now Mr. Strand forces me to train for the 100 IM every now and then, but in a pinch I think TASNICWHTY ("There's always some nut in California working harder than you.") for self-talk to keep me from loafing. Rich

This morning I was feeling reaaaalllllly crappy in the pool. I've been fighting a cold and this morning during warmup it seemed like the cold was winning. I was going to more or less pack it in with a short main set, but after the first couple 75 flys I decided that if I want to hit my time goals in the fall, I'd better suck it up. Extending the main set to 600 total fly felt like a victory, under the circumstances. And my stroke count never exceeded 8, that was good too. Time goals, SDK's, and stroke counts are something I can control. I can't control who enters meets and events, who scratches or DQ's, who gets hurt, and so on. If I focus on rivalries, it's a very weird empty feeling when I look at the psych sheet and find that a rival entered different events than I expected. Or isn't there at all! If I focus on placement (e.g. "I want to earn a medal in this event") then it might work out great or the event may turn out to be stacked with ringers. I do like to shoot for Top Tens but if I hit my time goal and don't make Top Ten, the most you'll hear from me is :badday:

TASNICWHTY ("There's always some nut in California working harder than you.") :D I like that.

It's going to be hard for me not to see biases from rowdy or usms officers if they are getting money from the suit manufacturers. NO USMS officer is getting money from the suit manufacturers!

Rowdy does an "informal" poll using Twitter and mail and gets 55% voting for the suits, not surprising since most of his contacts will be elites. Chris suggests that he would like to represent the whole of Masters and solicits on these boards, where most of the outspoken people have already used or adopted the suits. The fact is, that in any "vote" the people that tend to vote are those that have the most to gain or lose by the change, and the winner is whomever gets the most of their supporters motivated to get off their backsides and vote by whatever means is provided. When FINA and USA Swimming line up on one side of the rule, it seems to me USMS should follow suit. These are regulatory rules, not a popularity contest. Ban the suits and let's get back to swimming.